YOUNG DRIVER MOTOR CARS
Young Driver Motor Cars - Our Story
Young Driver Motor Cars is part of Young Driver, the largest under 17 driving school in the world. Over 1,100,000 lessons have been delivered to 10 – 17 year olds from 75 UK sites. Back in 2015, Young Driver Motor Cars was created as a dedicated business in order to design and manufacture new electric two seater cars for 4 – 10 year olds. The brief was not to create a toy car but to create a real car that featured independent suspension, rack and pinion steering, indicators and twin electric motors, just scaled for 4 - 10 year olds.
Firefly 1 Development
In June 2016, after extensive testing by over 1,000 four to ten year olds, the Firefly car was born, with an initial production run of six followed by a second run to accommodate demand in 2017.
Firefly 1 Testing.
Firefly cars entered service as training cars at selected Young Driver sites and over the next six years over 12,000 lessons were delivered to 4 – 10 year olds.
Firefly 1 In Operation
Land Rovers In Action 2017
After seeing the cars in action at our midlands HQ, we were asked by Jaguar Land Rover to produce a series of Land Rovers for promotional purposes and to enable JLR to engage with families at shows and events around the world. Reliability and ease servicing were important given the cars’ heavy schedule, and so six cars were built featuring the iconic grill, lamp arrangement and distinctive inboard headlamps. These cars were successfully deployed all over the world, most notably when they were driven by Prince Harry at the Invictus Games in Canada.
Jaguar Formula E Carbon Fibre
Following the success of the Land Rovers, we were commissioned to create a run of single-seat Jaguar Formula E racing cars. Manufactured from carbon fibre, these cars were used at Formula E race events all over the world, offering 4 – 10 year olds the chance to get behind the wheel of a realistic electric racing car as well as watching the Formula E racing.
In late 2019 the team started to focus on a replacement model for the original Firefly. In the four years since launch, the ‘real’ car market had moved on incredibly quickly, with EVs becoming mainstream and new designs and lightweight production techniques transforming the industry. The decision was taken not to cut corners but to design and engineer an all-new model using the lessons learned from delivering over 12,000 driving experiences and also embracing the huge steps forward in EV technology and car design. For more information on Firefly Sport please click here
